Monday, November 19, 2012

What an amazing weekend! We met up with some old friends
(great to see you again Morgan!) and we got to watch a great friend accomplish
something with unbelievable determination and heart that she has wanted to do
for the past 3 years!

A little back story on Jen and the Taranis Winter Challenge.
She has wanted to compete in this competition since watching Jesse compete in
the very first one back in 2009. I remember talking to her in the middle of
that competition and her telling me, "I what to do this next year!"
Every year asked her if she was going in and every year she answered,
"Ummm I don't know I still can't do this or I'm not very good at
that." This year I didn't ask and one day Jen came up to me with a
sheepish look on her face and said, "Uh Marc... I signed up for Taranis
this year..." I was shocked and excited all at once! I was instantly proud
of her for finally taking the leap of faith required to enter your first
competition. Anyone entering a competition for the first time has their head swirling
with doubt, "But I can't do this or that very well", "Well
everyone else is going to be better than me" , "I'll probably come
last" , "I'm going to have a few hundred people watching me as I fail
and thinking, why the hell is she even in this thing?!" Of course none of
that is ever even close to the truth but as humans we are insecure and that
insecurity often peaks out from behind the shadows to infest our minds with
negative thoughts and self-doubt so the fact that she was able to overcome that was an
accomplishment in itself.

Of course Jen being Jen her expectations were pretty low
going into this. In the very first workout all bets were off and she blew all
those low expectations and doubt to hell finishing 7th in a workout that was so
difficult that only 9 out of 30 women and 11 out of 40 men even finished it!!!
When all was said and done she finished top 10 in a few of the workouts and hit
2 PR's in the Snatch and the Clean and Press! Expectations and doubts be
damned! By the end of the first 2 days she was ranked 13th with the final day
being a kind of obstacle course race type knockout bracket workout that made it
difficult to determine her final placing.

Perhaps the most impressive sight I had the pleasure to see
was one of heart, anguish and absolute frustration. WOD 4 was announced and it
included pistols. Jen had never done a pistol in a workout before and could
barely do one in practice. She was devastated by the announcement but went into
the WOD with her head held high and for 15 minutes grit her teeth and gave it
her absolute all. She managed to grind out just under 6 rounds while other
competitors were closer to 20. To she an athlete and friend have to go through
that frustration while watching others around her hammer out rep after rep was excruciating
but from it came a sense of pride that I hadn't realized existed before. In
other workouts when things weren't going well for other athletes they slowed
down and some even quit in frustration. Jen grit her teeth and through tears of
frustration continued on battling until they made her stop. She would say that
that was her worst workout ever and that she would want to forget it but for me
it is her most memorable as it was evidence of her character. It reminded me of
the movie Rocky. The night before the fight Rocky lies in bed dismayed and Adrian asks him what's
wrong. Rocky responds, "I can't win." With total disregard for that
fact he fights as absolutely hard as he can and doesn't win but within that is
a hidden victory. Sometimes a loss can be a victory. A victory of character.
That is what we got to see with that workout.

To say I am proud of Jen and her accomplishments is a
drastic understatement. To see a good friend overcome doubts and unsuredness (i
know it's not a real word but screw it!) with such spectacular strength and
abandon was definitely one of the best things I have seen in a long time! Thanks
for the show Jen it was definitely worth the price of admission!